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A SERMO:^^, 



PREACHED IN THE 



CENTER CHURCH, NEW BRITAIN, 



MAY 19, 1861, 



AND 



REPEATED, BY REQUEST, IN GOSHEN, 



A.XJGUST 18, 1801. 



By LAVALETTE PERRIN. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



-'^^''' 



HARTFORD : 
PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD & COMPANY. 

1861. 



9r 






N. B. — I give this Discourse to the pubhc, because many 
whom I love, and in whose judgment I have confidence, have 
urged it as a duty, and kindly furnished the means for its pub- 
lication — and also because I wish to express, as publicly as I 
can, my hearty allegiance to, and sympathy with, our National 
Government, in its struggle for self-preservation. 

L. PERRIN. 
Neav Britain, August 26, 1861. 



SERMON. 



MATTHEW 22: 21. 
Render therefore unto C^sar the things that are Cesar's. 

I TAKE this command of Christ as a condensed 
expression of what the New Testament teaches, 
respecting the duties and obhgations of the Christian 
citizen. Ca3sar is made to impersonate civil govern- 
ment; so that what is here said, appHes not only 
to those to whom the text was addressed by our 
Saviour, but to us also, and to the subjects of every 
civil government, in all time. 

In pursuing my present object, I call your atten- 
tion first to the fact, that civil government is neces- 
sary TO THE existence OF HUMAN SOCIETY. And I surcly 
need not go into an argument to prove this. His- 
tory proves it. The Bible gives abundant reasons 
why it is so. Without a power to check and restrain 
him by force and present penalties, man, as the wild 
beast of the forest, will prey upon his fellow-man — 
the baser passions will rule him — and the ties of 
famil}', and the rights of property can not exist. 

I Avill not attempt here to examine the different 
theories which have been devised to account for the 
existence of civil government. The question of its 



origin I leave untouched. The fact of its existence 
I lay hold of as an argument in proof of its neces- 
sity. It has existed in one form or another in all 
ages. A felt want of mankind called it into being 
at an early period ; has continued it till now ; and will 
continue it in time to come. 

Nor is it of special importance to notice here the 
fact that there have been many and widely different 
forms of civil government. What we are now to 
notice is, that civil government, in one form or 
another, is essential to the existence of human 
society. Such is man's nature that no considerable 
number of men can live near each other without it. 
Nor is there a tribe or nation on earth who do not 
recognize this fact. It is imjDlied in the very 
words — tribe, nation, and others of like import. 
There may be degrees of culture ; there may be 
steps of progress ; but as we pass from its ruder 
forms found among savage tribes, to its more per- 
fectly developed systems under a Christian civiliza- 
tion ; every where we see civil government existing 
in answer to the stern call of necessity. Though 
often quite imperfect ; though many times cruelly 
unjust ; yet always it is relatively a blessing. As 
man is by nature, any government is better than no 
government. Such and so many are the wicked 
passions of man that like hidden volcanic fires break 
out and devastate society wherever the restraints of 
government are withdrawn, that this earth, as a 
dwelling place, would be little better than hell itself, 
if all civil government, imperfect as it is, were abol- 
ished. There could be no such thing as families, 



neighborhoods, states, or nations, without it. It is 
therefore necessary to the very existence of human 
society. 

Notice now secondli/, its divine authority. A hint 
of this we might find in that necessity, of which I 
have just spoken. But clearer evidence than this 
demands our attention. Civil government is not a 
purely human institution : that is to say, it is not a 
device of man, having only the sanction of his 
authority. Men are indeed the framers of govern- 
ment, and they give to it the particular form, which 
their measure of civilization demands, but its author- 
ity comes from a higher source than man. What 
has already been said implies this. For that which 
is found both a necessity and a fact in God's empire, 
must certainly be a part of His plan. 

We are not, however, left to our own reasoning 
for evidence in this case. No language could be 
more explicit in setting forth the divine authority of 
civil government, than is the language of the Bible, 
and especially the New Testament. Read, for exam- 
ple, the thirteenth chapter of Paul's Epistle to the 
Romans. He there affirms that rulers are of God's 
appointment. As agents of God, to enforce the 
necessary regulations of society, they are called 
potver'S. According to Paul's teaching, civil govern- 
ment is a power ordained of God, and appointed as 
his minister to bear the sword for the suppression and 
punishment of evil. " For he " — i. e. the 7'uler, 
whether emperor, king, president or governor — " is 
the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath 
upon him that doeth evil." And our Saviour presents 



6 

substantially the same view of this matter, in the 
text and context. So that we have not only inspired 
language, but the language of the great Teacher 
himself, to prove the divine authority of civil gov- 
ernment. And this was a point which our fathers 
made quite prominent in founding the government 
under which we live. We, their descendants, have 
well nigh lost sight of it. Many and powerful have 
been the influences tending to root out from the 
nation this idea. Once gone entirely, and the sheet 
anchor of our government is hopelessly lost. We 
have sinned grievously as a people, by refusing or 
neglecting to recognize God's authority in the gov- 
ernment under which we have lived, and been pros- 
pered and blessed, more than any other people in the 
world. Our present difficulties and calamities are 
due in a great measure to the practical atheism of 
the people, which lurks in such expressions as — " the 
sovereign people " — ^' popular sovereignty," and the 
like. A great and important truth, of which we 
have been sadly and wickedly forgetful, God is 
beginning to vindicate. That truth is, that sov(t- 
eigidy belongs to Him, and to Him only, in all mat- 
ters, natural, civil and religious. The state, the gov- 
ernment, rulers, by whatever name they are called, 
are God's ministers; his servants; the instruments 
by which he executes his will. Of course, the power, 
the authority, the sovereignty, is of God; and to 
resist civil government, in the exercise of its legiti- 
mate functions, is to resist God. To rebel against 
it, is to rebel against God. This is the teaching of 



Paul, who says : " Whosoever resisteth the power, 
resisteth the ordinance of God." 

It is important that we bear in mind, that this 
hmguage was first addressed to Jewish Christians 
under Roman rule. Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, 
with their terrible abominations of cruelty, rapacity 
and hatred, had just past from the theatre of action. 
Nero, more fiendish, if possible, than they all, had 
grasped, and was holding firmly the sceptre of em- 
pire. It is true the fires of persecution had not yet 
broken out with their most terrible energy against 
the Christians to whom Paul writes. But the char- 
acter of the emperors just named was well known. 
Their cruelties, their debaucheries, their open wick- 
edness, had given them a world-wide fame. And it 
was while the reins of government were in such 
hands that Jesus said to his hearers — Render unto 
Caesar the things that are Csesar's. And when the 
cruelty and wickedness of Caesar had become yet 
more apparent, Paul declared — " The powers that be 
are ordained of God." Even in the hands of such 
agents, and when men of such high handed wicked- 
ness were administering it, civil government was of 
divine authority, so that he who rebelled against it, 
rebelled against God. How much more is this true 
then, when the rulers are upright, and the govern- 
ment just. Surely such a government is of divine 
authority, and rebellion against it is the highest 
crime against God and society possible to man. 

If then civil government is a necessity — and if it 
is of divine authority, we can not fail to see thirdly, 

that IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY CHRISTIAN CITIZEN TO DO 



8 

ALL IN HIS POWER TO SUSTAIN THE GOVERNMENT UNDER 

WHICH HE LIVES. That government may not be per- 
fect ; it may indeed be very imperfect ; its working 
may be quite unequal, and its administration may 
be corrupt ; but the obHgation to sustain it, v^ithin 
the sphere of its legitimate sovereignty, is not gradu- 
ated by any of these considerations. The command 
to be subject to government, or to the powers that 
be, is not qualified. Paul does not say — " Let every 
soul be subject to the higher powers, if in his judg- 
ment they are worthy of it." The command is with- 
out qualification or condition. The fact of its 
existence is to be taken as evidence of its claim. 
" What ! " some one will say, " am I bound to support 
a wicked government?" Yes, if it be in fact a gov- 
ernment, and you are under it. For a wicked gov- 
ernment is better than none at all ; and the powers 
that be are ordained of God, even when a Nero 
sways the sceptre of empire. It does not devolve 
upon me as a Christian citizen to investigate and 
determine the question of its origin and legitimacy 
before I obey or sustain the government of the land 
in which I live ; nor is its sovereignty over me origi- 
nated or measured by my opinion of its rights. 
Whatever may be said of the doctrine o^ passive 
endurance, in obedience to a higher law, we can not 
justify by the Scriptures an open rebellion against 
civil government, for any cause. Its actual exist- 
ence is proof to me, that the government under 
which I find myself is the ordinance or power to 
which I must yield obedience and support in all 
civil matters. This is to me, what the image and 



superscription on the penny brought to Christ were 
to those who brought it ; and the command — " Ren- 
der unto Caesar the things that are Csesar's," reaches 
me through this fact of the existence of civil govern- 
ment, and makes subjection and support a duty. 
The Scriptures leave no place in the creed of a Chris- 
tian citizen for rebellion. 

A revolution in the forms of civil government may 
take its rise in a rebellion, but the end does not 
sanctify the means here, any more than elsewhere. 
Rebellion has often, in the world's history, gathered 
to itself strength enough to vindicate its claims to 
recognition as a permanent power among the na- 
tions. God has often used the spirit of rebellion, 
and the forces it has marshalled, to effect great 
changes for the better in civil society ; just as in 
other matters he brings good out of evil. This is 
his prerogative as a sovereign. But it does by no 
means authorize us to call evil good. To say that 
rebellion is ever right, is to say that sin is holiness. 
For rebellion is an attempt to destroy civil govern- 
ment, and it can not be right to destroy, or to 
attempt to destroy, God's accredited minister, or ordi- 
nance. 

In the question of paying tribute to Coesar, which 
our Saviour answers in the text, the bare fact that 
Ca?sar's image was upon the tribute money ; that is 
to say, the actual existence of authority and power 
thus indicated, was taken as proof of obligation. It 
indicated God's will, and therefore determined or 
pointed out their duty. And so all that the New 
Testament says upon the subject of civil government, 



10 

recognizes it as the ordinance of God, to be obeyed 
and sustained for conscience' sake. 

Rejecting therefore all the thia and shallow theo- 
ries of civil government which rest its authority upon 
a social compact or agreement, we claim for it the 
authority of God's will ; and claiming this we say 
that motives and considerations of rehgion. as well 
as those of expediency, require us as citizens, to 
uphold and defend the government imder which we 
live. It is doing God sei-vice as truly when by our 
words, our votes or our contributions, we strive to 
uphold and strengthen the civil government that is 
established over us — it is obeying God's commands 
as actually when we do thus, as when we give our 
support to the special institutions for the promotion 
of religion. For we can have no sure progress in 
rehgion that is not wedded to a progressive civiHza- 
tion ; and all true advancement in civilization finds 
its strength and defence in civil government recog- 
nized as the ordinance of God. 

There is then a religious as well as a ci^'il obhga- 
tion binding every Christian citizen to sustain the 
government under which he lives. At whatever 
cost of time, of effort, or of money it is effected, he 
must not shrink horn, personal sacrifices, until the 
sovereignty of civil government, within its legiti- 
mate sphere is -vnndicated against every assault of 
treachery or rebeUion at home, and of jealousy or 
ambition abroad. It is but rendering unto Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's, when at the caU of his 
imperilled government, the citizen soldier appears, 
to lay himself a sacrifice, if need be, upon the altar 



11 

of devotion. It is but rendering nnto Caesar the 
things that are Cassar's, when with ready hands and 
loyal hearts, a people pour treasures without stint 
into the coffers of government to strengthen and 
encourage it in the struggle for self-preservation. 
It is but rendering unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's, when a noble unpulse of chastened loyalty 
in woman, says "Go," to the husbands, sons and 
brothers of the land, who are called to the field of 
battle in defense and vindication of civil govern- 
ment as God's ordinance. And surely, if amid the 
vices and cruelties and wild excesses of a govern- 
ment like that of imperial Rome, the great Teacher, 
by express command, imposed upon Christian sub- 
jects the obligation of loyalty and devotion; much 
more would he with emphasis say to all his followers 
under a nominally Christian government — " Render 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." 

This language of Christ then, may serve as our 
guide in determining our duty at the present time 
toward our government, which is now put upon a 
struggle for self-preservation. A more unnatural, 
unreasonable and thoroughly wicked assault upon 
God's established ordinance, has never darkened the 
pages of history, than that which makes the present 
a crisis in the history of our government. We need 
to call things by their right names, and trace effects 
to their real causes, in order to know just what the 
obligations of religion, as well as the claims of the 
State, demand of us hi this hour of a nation's per- 
plexity and peril. Let us therefore clear away, if 
possible, the mist and darkness which a designing 



12 

sophistry has occasioned in many minds and look 
this thing fairly in the face. That we may do thus, 
two things need to be better understood by us as a 
people. 

First. We need to see and feel, that all the states 
of this Union owe allegiance to a single, common 
sovereignty. By interchanging the terms Republic 
and Confederacy — by confounding the ideas ex- 
pressed by these terms — by an ingenious play upon 
such ideas as are common to the two forms of gov- 
ernment which they designate; the notion has been 
quite extensively fostered, that civil sovereignty 
pertains only to the governments of the States sin- 
gly, and not to the government of the States united, 
or as we commonly say, the United States. It is of 
the first importance that we abide by the truth, and 
the facts, in determining this question; for if sover- 
eignty does not inhere in what we have been so long 
calling our National government, then it is not a 
government, and we are not a Nation. Of course, 
if this is not a government, it has no claim upon our 
allegiance. 

What then is the difference between a Confederacy 
and a Repubhc? Let us see. In a Confederacy, the 
States do not part with, or delegate their sovereignty 
in regard to any matters. >No act of the general 
government is valid, as binding a particular State, 
until that State has sanctioned it. The actual sov- 
ereignty, therefore, is retained by the individual 
states. The general government, if it be proper to 
call it a government, is not a sovereignty — has no 
positive authority — is not an ordinance of God, in 



13 

the sense of being a power. There is always an ap- 
peal to be made, after its voice is heard, to each 
State ; and unless every State says amen to its decis- 
ion, there is no authority in it. As a form of gov- 
ernment therefore, a Confederacy has not in it the 
elements of sovereignty. It is not Csesar. Its acts 
carry with them only the influence of recommenda- 
tion. The obligation of obedience is not imposed by 
its commands. 

It is far different with a Repubhc. Here, the sev- 
eral states are no longer sovereign, m matters which 
the Constitution commits to the general government, 
but their individual sovereignty is absorbed in a dis- 
tinct and higher sovereignty, in virtue of which, as 
by prerogative, that government speaks and acts for 
all the states; and these, as subjects and subordi- 
nates, are under the obligation of obedience, so that 
to disobey is rebellion. Here, I will let another 
speak for me, because he had spoken before the pres- 
ent crisis could have an influence to bias or prejudice 
the mind. "A Republic is a sovereign nation, and 
acts legitimately as a sovereign among nations, and 
within the Constitution has no more responsibility 
to its own states, than to foreign states. When the 
assent is once given, and the sovereign Republic 
constituted, no state has the right of secession, or 
nullification, except by a strict construction of the 
Constitution itself; and if the right is not plainly 
expressed, then does it not exist; and those who 
have adopted the Constitution have vested rights 
under it which no separate state can amend or dis- 
regard. The public freedom, to the extent of the 



14 

constitutional provision is henceforth committed to 
the sovereignty of the Kepublic as fully and irre- 
versibly as the entire public freedom is in any inde- 
pendent nation ; and the crime of treason attaches 
to all armed resistance to it, as in the rebellion of any 
part of any nation." * 

We need to keep this difference between a Con- 
federacy and a Republic distictly in view, if we would 
see what certain men, and combinations of men, are 
doing in the land, and feel our obligations to the 
government in this crisis. If this is a Confederacy, 
we are under no obligations to the general govern- 
ment as to a power, or sovereignty — a minister of 
God. If this is a Republic, we owe it an allegiance 
from which no power on earth, but the Republic 
itself, can excuse us. It becomes then a question of 
vital importance to us, which it is. And the ques- 
tion is not, which we would have it, or which we 
think it ought to be, but which, according to truth 
and facts, it really is. 

In answering this question then, observe three 
facts. First. — The individual states of this Union, 
with only one exception,-|- as governments, have 
never possessed, have never exercised, and until 
recently, have never claimed a national or complete 
sovereignty. As colonies, they were subjects of the 
British crown; and as territories and states they 
have been subjects of a general government. Until 
quite recently, not one of these states has attempted 
to exercise, or even claimed, civil sovereignty. 

Secondly — The citizens of the several states, as 

* Hickok's Moral Science. t Texas. 



15 



such, and in a solemn form of attestation, have placed 
the State within the Republic as a subordinate, m- 
tegral part of one Nation; and have acknowledged, 
and proclaimed to the world the sovereignty of the 
Nation, in all matters not reserved by the express 
provisions and limitation of a Constitution, made, 
ratified and proclaimed, not by the States, but by 
the people of the United States. The people, by ex- 
press act and declaration, made the States subjects 
of a higher sovereignty, when they said-" This con- 
stitution, and the laws of the United States which 
shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties 
made, or which shall be made, under the authority 
of the United States, shall be the supreme law ol 
the land; and the judges in every state shall be 
bound thereby; any thing in the constitution or 
laws of any state, to the contrary notwithstandmg. > 
Thus the Constitution itself, by its clear, guarded 
language, makes it evident, that our fathers m found- 
ing this national government, made it, and intended 
to make it, a, Republic. _ 

Consider, also, a third fact. Havmg faith in the 
wisdom and integrity of our fathers and accrediting 
their solemn acts, the whole civilized world-all the 
nations of christendom-have recognized us and 
treated with us, as a RepubUc; so that all our treat- 
ies with other nations, all our pledges and stipula- 
tions as a nation, at home and abroad, rest for secu- 
rity upon this idea. We have not only aUowed but 
enforced the prevalence of this idea for more than 

» Constitution of United Stales, Art. 6, Sec. 2. 



16 

three score years — indeed, during our whole history 
as a nation. Other nations have never recognized 
the individual States as competent to hold intercourse 
with them as sovereigns ; and the States have never 
asserted that right or power. 

Still further; even those States which have re- 
cently organized a rebellion against the government, 
have taken and acted upon this view of the matter. 
Nay more, some of them have with special empha- 
sis published this view to the world. Hear the voice 
of Virginia, once the mother of Presidents — now the 
hot-bed of traitors. In her leading public journal * 
of Nov. 1st, 1814, she says — " No man, no association 
of men, no state nor set of states, has a right to with- 
draw itself from this Union of its own accord. The 
same power which knit us together can only unknit. 
The same formality which forged the links of the 
Union is necessary to dissolve it. The majority of 
states which form the Union must consent to the 
witljdrawment of any one branch of it. Until that 
consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve 
the Union or obstruct the efficiency of its constitu- 
tional laws, is treason — treason to all intents and pur- 
poses." Such was the language of Virginia half a 
century ago. Behold her actions now ! By her own 
mouth let her be judged. Her verdict was boldly 
given. " Secession is ireasony Need we further evi- 
dence that this is in ftict a Republic ? Is it not in- 
vested with a sovereignty, which no citizen, or com- 
bination of citizens, may resist, without resisting the 
ordinance of God? 

* The Richmond Enquirer. 



17 

If then this is a Republic, and not a Confederacy, 
so that all the States of this Union owe allegiance 
to this sovereignty ; a second important matter for 
us to bear in mind is, that the struggle in which we 
are engaged, is in no proper sense of the word a 
War. 

The conscience of Christendom has for years been 
in a process of education toward the point of deny- 
ing that Avar is justifiable. And very many Chris- 
tians in this land, and in other lands, have fairly 
brought themselves to the conclusion, that the spirit 
of the gospel can not be reconciled with the justifi- 
cation of war between Christian nations for any pur- 
pose. There is just now, therefore, a hesitancy and 
great misgiving of spirit on the part of many, lest 
by word or action, they become committed to a jus- 
tification of war. The authors and supporters of 
this great and wicked conspiracy are shrewdly play- 
ing upon this tenderness of conscience, and turning 
it to their own advantage as much as possible by the 
cry — "The North is making war upon the South." 
It is important, therefore, that we relieve all tender 
consciences upon this point, if we can, by showing 
that this is not a war in any proper sense of the 
word. A wrong impression is conveyed, by the use 
of this word, to designate the conflict in wdiich our 
government is engaged. 

War is a state of hostility and armed conflict be- 
tween sovereign nations; who, because they have 
no superior or sovereign to appeal to for the settle- 
ment of their difficulties, resort to force and arms. 
And because they are sovereigns, and therefore 
3 



18 

equals, they may, if they will, without by implica- 
tion relinquishing their sovereignty, submit their 
differences to an umpire for settlement. Hence the 
advocates of peace have good ground upon which 
to affirm that nations ought always to do this. 

But this in which we are involved is not a strug- 
gle between two sovereignties, who are therefore 
equals, and may call in an umpire for their relief 
It is an assault made by a subject upon its accredited 
sovereign. It is treason. It is rebellion, of the rank- 
est sort, urging in its own justification and defense 
the very essence of blasphemy toward God, and tjr- 
anny over men. It is as when the law as a sover- 
eign, lays hold, by force, of the murderer to call him 
to account for his crime ; and the principles in the 
case are not altered, whether it requires only one, or 
fifty, or five hundred thousand, to act with the sheriff 
as a "posse," in vindicating the sovereignty of the 
law. Do w^e call it war, when a criminal is thus met 
and subdued with force and arms, if need be, by the 
law? 

Let us discard then, the use of this word, to ex- 
press the conflict in which our government is en- 
gaged for the vindication of its sovereignty. Let us 
cease talking about the North making Avar upon the 
South, or the South upon the North, and call things 
by their right names. This is not war in any proper 
sense of the word. It is rebellion — sheer, shameless, 
high-handed rebellion, forcing itself with ambitious 
and selfish malignity against the authority and power 
of a government, second to no other government on 
earth, in the validity of its title to sovereignty, or 



19 

in the number and magnitude of the blessings it 
yields to the people who are its subjects. 

Let us see if this is not so. Certain restless and 
ambitious men in several states, utterly disregarding 
the rights, and by threats and violence silencing the 
voice, of other citizens, or forcing them into co-ope- 
ration, have refused to yield to the Federal Govern- 
ment the service and obedience which the Constitu- 
tion says they must yield. Without even the form 
of an appeal to the constituted tribunal for the ad- 
justment of difficulties, and in defiance of the sov- 
ereignty lodged in that sacred instrument, which 
they have sworn to obey and defend, they have 
said to the country and to the world : "We defy the 
government ; and will destroy it if we can." They 
have accompanied this declaration with the most 
graceless and abusive threats and taunts, which only 
a lawless and treasonable spirit would employ. 
They have trampled upon many of the sacred de- 
fenses of civilized society, violated the rights of per- 
son, of conscience and of property; and in their 
mad haste to steal the march upon the general gov- 
ernment they have resorted to perjury, treachery 
and robbery without scruple ; depleting its treasury 
by frauds — disabling its army and navy by defection 
— and pouncing upon its unguarded forts and arse- 
nals, and armories, as highwaymen fall upon the un- 
suspecting traveler. They have outraged even the 
rules and decencies of savage life, and by a public 
proclamation defied the better sense of all Christen- 
dom, by encouraging piracy, and offering a reward 
for the heads of peaceable citizens, engaged in law- 



20 

ful and useful callings. And, as if to vent the inmost 
virus of this wicked rebellion against the govern- 
ment, they have trailed the symbol of its sovereignty 
in the dust, while reeking with the blood of its de- 
fenders, and lifted a fiendish shout of exultation 
over the act ; insensible to the shame and guilt of 
their execrable crime. 

And shall we call this war? No — no — never! 
War is a trial of strength and strategic skill between 
sovereigns, who as such, are equals, and who main- 
tain at least the semblance of honor and decency. 
War recognizes certain rules of action as demanded 
by reason, by civilization and religion. But this of 
which Ave are now speaking is lawless, fierce, ram- 
pant rebellion; pressing into its service the most 
barefaced acts of treason, and riding rough-shod in 
its hot haste for power, over the most sacred ties of 
humanity, and the laws and demands of civilized 
warfare, until the government is compelled to vindi- 
cate its sovereignty — its very existence even — by 
force and arms. 

The question, then, is not whether the North shall 
make war upon the South. It is whether loyal citi- 
zens shall respond to the call of civil government as 
God's minister, when it is put upon a struggle for 
existence. We doubt not, that if it were allowed, 
the sober judgment, and holier impulses of multi- 
tudes at the South, would instantly appear in organ- 
ized resistance to this frenzy of rebels. We doubt 
not that prayers as sincere and devout as any that 
we offer, go up to God from southern states, asking 



21 



Him to arrest this mad conspiracy in its march of 
devastation. 

It is not, then, a question of war upon the South, 
or of war at all. It is a question of anarchy or 
order— a question of rebellion or obedience— a ques- 
tion involving the very existence of civil society. 
See how it runs down through all the lesser branches 
of the body politic, and reaches the very heart, and 
every pulsation of society. If the State may deny 
the jurisdiction of the Repubhc, the County may 
deny the jurisdiction of the State— the Town of the 
County— and each lesser division may deny the 
jurisdiction of its superior ; until in the chaos of con- 
flicting wills, every man's hand will be against his 

neighbor. 

The real question with us, therefore, is— bhall 
God's ordinance of government be sustained and 
perpetuated in this land ? Shall responsible power, 
vested in government as a divine ordinance, and 
restrained by constitutional limits, sit in sovereignty 
over our civil relations, and give us liberty, prosperi- 
ty happiness and all the untold and priceless bless- 
inJ^s which we as a people have enjoyed more than 
any other people under heaven? or shall the foun- 
dations of society be broken up, and universal anar- 
chy curse the land ? Such is the real question before 
us as christian citizens. Can any one hesitate m 
mving his answer ? Does not every consideration of 
piety as well as of patriotism challenge from us a 
prompt and spirited reply ? Does not the command 
of Hhn in whom is vested all sovereignty— that 
command with which as a text we started upon this 



22 

inquiry — answer for us? Render unto CaBsar the 
things that are Caesar's. 

Here is the best government that has ever found 
a name and place among the nations — a government 
under which the largest measure of personal liberty 
compatible with general order and safety is secured 
to every individual — a government which for half a 
century and more has been silently breathing its 
own free spirit into the old and creaking forms of 
despotism the world over — a government which lias 
yielded a home, protection, and free scope for all 
manly endeavors, to hundreds of thousands of the 
persecuted and impoverished of other lands — a gov- 
ernment framed by the wisdom, consecrated by the 
prayers, and bequeathed to us with the benediction 
of an ancestry whose very names are synonyms of 
the noblest virtues and the purest graces — here, I 
say, is such a government ; confronted and be- 
leaguered by the most arrant treason and wicked 
rebellion ; and in its peril, calling upon us as citizens 
to uphold it in the effort to withstand the assault. 
Is this making war upon anybody ? No — it is sim- 
ply obeying the mandate of Heaven, implied in the 
necessitated existence of civil government and clear- 
ly expressed in the Bible. It is God's ordinance 
vindicating its right to be, and lifting itself in the 
majesty of its divine commission, while it calls 
heaven and earth to witness, that its fixed purjDOse 
is, not to hear the sivord in vain. 

What then is our duty, when such a government, 
thus imperiled, calls upon us for support ? Does not 
the text answer this practical question, to which we 
have come by this discussion ? 



sa 



HeNDER unto CiESAR THE THINGS THAT ARE C.ESAR's. 

What things, then, are Caesar's ? What is due to 
our government, from us, in this day of its peril ? 
First, our good will, and ready sanction of all its law- 
ful acts. As things now are, it is a sin against God, 
the government, and ourselves, to be carping and 
finding fault, and criticising those errors and imper- 
fections which are unavoidable under such a sudden 
and intense pressure as now rests upon the Adminis- 
tration at Washington. Let all partisan and personal 
criticisms then be hushed by an earnest sympathy, 
until this pressure is removed. 

Then secondly, we owe the government our earn- 
est prayers for its success in this struggle. More in 
real value at a time like this, than all " columbiads,'' 
and other engines of destruction which guarded the 
fort in which he fought so nobly, is that spirit of 
Christian heroism, breathed by the intrepid Ander- 
son, when he said in allusion to the defense of 
Sumpter — "I put my trust in God, and I believe that 
God put it into my heart to do what I did." And if 
such is the feeling of the Christian soldier amid the 
perils of the conflict, shall we not, like Moses, hold 
up the hands of prayer, that Israel niay prevail ? 
Our fiimily altars, and church conference, brethren^ 
should now as never before, evince to ourselves and 
to the world, a working faith in God. That Chris- 
tian who is not found at the place of prayer at a 
time like this — that Christian whose heart does not 
prompt him to wrestle with God in prayer, often, for 
the government, if he is not a rebel, can be counted 



2i 

no better certainly than a neutral. He is not ren- 
dering unto Caesar that which is due. 

Thirdly, we must give to the government money — 
money without stint or grudge. Liberal contribu- 
tions, and heavy taxes cheerfully given in this crisis, 
are a better test and proof of true patriotism, than 
flippant speeches or loud huzzas. Nor may we 
reasonably expect that this demand for money will 
end with a single levy. Heavy drafts, repeated for 
years to come, will doubtless try our perseverance 
in the matter of thus rendering unto Caesar that 
which is Caesar's. If this government had cost us 
more — if we had been made to respond more fre- 
quently and largely to its demands for tribute — it 
might perhaps have nourished among us such a 
spirit of loyalty, as to discourage all treason at the 
outset of its wicked endeavors. But it has really 
cost us so little in a way to be felt, that the people 
are left in doubt whether we have a government. 
The people of other countries never have such a 
doubt. The demand now made upon us for tribute 
will be likely to remove this doubt from our minds. 
Let us thank God for the unparalleled munificence 
in giving, which this crisis has already disclosed. 
And let every man, rich or poor, when tribute is 
demanded, show a ready mind. 

Fourthly and finally, we must render unto Caesar 
men. Ourselves, if the call is for us — our sons, broth- 
ers, husbands, fathers, if the call is for them. Ah ! 
here is where the tribute demanded strikes the most 
sensitive nerves of the soul ! It is when we enter 
the sacred enclosure of the family, and wrench the 



25 

very heartstrings of fathers and mothers, wives and 
sisters, by laying the demands of Cassar upon the 
hearth-stone of home — it is when we call for the 
father, into whose sad eye childhood looks inquir- 
ingly as we speak — it is when we call for the young 
husband, upon whose ruddy cheek the kiss of bridal 
affection has but just set a holy signet — it is when 
we call for the son — perhaps the only son — whose 
noble brow the instincts of a mother's heart have 
bathed wath tears such as only a mother sheds ; oh ! 
it is when we come to this, in urging the claims of 
government, that we sound the deepest depths of 
Christian patriotism, and see a difference between 
the genuine coin and its counterfeit, that challenges 
our admiration. Let us thank God that this fiery 
trial has already disclosed to us in the present gen- 
eration, so much of that pure gold, which enriched 
and ennobled the character of our fathers and moth- 
ers of blessed memory. 

I have endeavored by this argument and appeal to 
guide you, my hearers, to a Christian view of the 
crisis which is upon us. I would have you feel that 
the claims of government are the claims of God, and 
act accordingly. We are not making war upon any 
one — we are upholding and defending civil govern- 
ment as the ordinance of God, established for the 
good of our race. In the name of the Lord God of 
Hosts, therefore, do we set up our banner — the glo- 
rious " stars and stripes ; " that banner which was 
borne in triumph by a Washington from the battles 
of the Revolution; that banner which has com- 
manded the respect and deference of all the civilized 
4 



26 

nations of the world; that banner, whose graceful 
folds have danced in the breezes of every clime, and 
kindled the inspiration of hope and joy in despairing 
millions 5 that illustrious old banner, which our 
fathers set up in the name of the God of Liberty, we, 
their children, will lift from its threatened disgrace, 
and God helping us, we will keep it waving " o'er 
the land of the free and the home of the brave," as 
the ensign of a government, divinely commissioned 
to bear the sword not in vain, against all treason, 
rebellion and crime. Its very composition bespeaks 
its celestial origin. Yes — 

" Wlien freedom from her mountain height 

Unfurled her standard to the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 

And set the stars of glory there. 

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 

The milky baldric of the skies ; 

And striped its pure celestial white, 

With streakings of the morning light. 
Then, from his mansion in the sun. 
She called her eagle bearer down, 
And gave into his mighty hand 
The symbol of her chosen land." 

Thus recognizing with the poet its heavenly ori- 
gin, and regarding it as the symbol of our nation's 
divine commission, who will not add with the empha- 
sis of kindled enthusiasm — 

" Flag of the free heart's hope and home ! 
By angel hands to valor given — 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 
And all thy hues were born in Heaven !" 



,27 

May the God in whose name we lift up this ban- 
ner, make iis prompt, patient, hberal, cheerful and 
successful, in sustaining and defending the best gov- 
ernment ever inaugurated as his minister among the 
nation's of the earth. Amen. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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